yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nook Color General] altimax98:
Wow... honestly i think that letter is the worst thing ive read. Honestly, i dont care that they havent updated it. Its rather a blessing how unlocked they left the device. Fact of the matter is that the Nook is a eReader, a highly over powered eReader, that they built and developed ontop of the android system for the ease of use and not having to build a entire custom OS.

Honestly the nook color is the best 250 ive spent in a long time. If i wanted a "tablet" i would have bought a gtab or galaxy. Its pretty common practice for companies nowadays to delay updating software. Honestly why update software when 1: it works.. pretty well too 2: technology is moving faster then software. why update a outdated device?

Its up to you and me and the android developers to keep old devices updated with new and fun software. Thats why so many developers do what they do without making a income off it while spending hours and hours on it. In the end, Barnes and Noble is a business that needs money and updating the nook is not going to bring in the big bucks, if any at all.

Sent from one of those missing Droids or Nook Color on HoneyComb
[Nook Color General] Fattychance:
Your letter.

I assume in part you posted this here because you want feedback.

First, I am in no way affiliated with B&N. I am a user just like you.

I am extremely happy with the Nook.

I like it precisely because they made left it (probably unintentionaly) booting first to the SD.

This in turn has allowed the devs wide open to make bootable images that can be written to the sd.

I believe the company made some forward looking statements that said they wanted to do more with the device. So far in three months, they have released 3 builds. That's actually remarkable when you consider that unlike the developers here, they have to release rock solid well tested stable builds.

Nookie Froyo is really nice. No doubt CM7 and Honeycomb will soon be also...but in the end they both have more problems than an average user could reasonably accept.

Given that their system is so remarkably open, it is my opinion that there is really no better tablet in the ballpark of it on the price.

As a computer professional, I actualy recommended to my friends on facebook, thst they send B&N execs valentines heart candies expressing unending love.

At the end of the day, in my book, they need not hurry because they have given us the best of both worlds.

Take away the boot order....and I never would have bought it at all.

Meenwhile, at apple, they are taking the walled garden to a whole new level....which can only push up prices 30%....
[Nook Color General] tunwear:
You'll probably get the standard "Thank you for your email, we're working as has as we can email." Even if they were going to send a real email back, what are they going to respond to? Give specific examples of what your issues you have. "bringing more user capabilities, and a better experience, while keeping to the theme of "a reader, not an all-purpose tablet"", doesn't really mean anything.

Why does it matter how their UI is when you can put whatever UI on the thing when its rooted.
[Nook Color General] Trey_Miller:
I took an hour and some odd time to drive to work and think about what I would say to the two of you in response to your statements.

For starters, Altimax, I'm sorry my grasp of the American English language disgusts you more than anything you have read (although I sincerely doubt that, due to your own grammatical mistakes). Upon reading your post, I realized that you had completely missed the point of my email, which was telling them to man up and do something, or revise the statement that NC spokespersons in the B&N stores tell people. As for why update an outdated device, gee, perhaps it's because they have repeatedly stated they were?

I fully respect the people here and everywhere else that have put so much time into making the device use more of its potential-- as you'll notice in my sig-line, I'm running a rooted NC-- but my entire point was, and still is, either they need to change their tune, or they need to provide something other than a "we'll be with you in a moment" statement.

Fattychance, I agree with you completely that it is a remarkable speed by which they are working. However, the people here on XDA have managed to, as you say, produce Nookie Froyo, are working on Honeycomb, etc etc, in the same time. If nothing else, the actual B&N dev team could take a page or thirty out of these lads' books and get some stuff done.

However, again, you have missed my point; both of you have.

I'm not looking for a tablet, or more "wow factor" or anything of that sort. They've got a rather infantile UI *thrown* on top of 2.1 as their reader software. Would it hurt to address that singular problem? Hell, as I mentioned, the nook apk runs smoother than their nook UI.

I admit, this looks like I'm simply whining about things I don't like. You know what? I don't care. I've seen more posts on these forums that focus on complaining to the dev teams here about how slow work is being done. I'm at least focusing on the people who get *paid* to do this, and asking "Where's the beef?" Where is the work you lot are promising is "just around the corner"?

Three months is more than enough for them to upgrade from eclair to froyo, give the device the few added things people were promised from day one. Am I asking too much? Hell no. I'm asking them to do their job.
[Nook Color General] madfatter:
why do you even care? with a little effort you can run pretty much anything on it. if others dont want to then so be it, thanks to the wonderful devs, the options are there. so why even waste your time writing letters and arguing with people on here. Barnes and Nobles did a great job with the NC. great hardware and an amazing cost. Dont harras them out of boredom.
[Nook Color General] Trey_Miller:
Madfatter, why do I even care? Because my daddy always taught me that if you say something, you keep your word. Why should they (meaning B&N) be any different? Also, the nice thing about my job is that I've got this nifty thing called "free time" that comes along with the whole graveyard shift work, so I'm not even wasting my time. However, it's not just that, it's also the fact that, not everyone who owns an NC even comprehends what rooting means. I'm speaking for them, not for you and me and everyone else that is a techie.
[Nook Color General] Product F(RED):
I'm confused. You want something that runs the Nook app? So why don't you root it and run the Nook app on top of a normal Android ROM?
[Nook Color General] darknetone:
I have to agree with others here.. why do you care, I see you have rooted you Nook Color. Do you prefer (or are waiting on) that B&N deliver something better that what you can have? Get real,... is you rooted NC not enough? B&N does books, and quite well I might add, they don't do tablets. Although they do seem to have out done everyone else.
[Nook Color General] Trey_Miller:
*sigh* Tell me, F(Red), what makes you think I haven't? Like I told madfatter, I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for every person out there that either doesn't have the knowledge of how to root, doesn't have the courage to take the chance at bricking their device, or simply wants to hold the company accountable for a promise they made.

I posted this here because, as a community, XDA is supposed to be not only here to push tech to its limits and beyond, but also to get the most out of the tech. Well, I'm trying to get the most out of the tech for people who aren't ever going to root.
[Nook Color General] luigi90210:
they have a UI built for putting shortcuts to your books and magazines on your homescreens so you have easy access to your favorite books or favorite magazine, their reader UI is simple and easy to use and their music player although isnt the best music player out there it gets the job done. the average user wouldnt need any more than that and imo they did a pretty good job at turning android 2.1 into an ereader OS

i agree with you in that aspect that they should keep their word but i also disagree with the fact they they should update it to froyo or add anything to the user experience

non techies dont need these features in an ereader if its anything they(meaning B&N) should just fix bugs in their system

if they update it to froyo they will be requested to include flash 10.1 and all other goodies froyo includes and that can actually degrade the user experience more than enhance it

flash although necessary for a full web browsing experience it isnt required for a good one

flash kills battery faster than anything else even on wifi(steve jobs got this one right) and it can slow down your device big time(although it might not happen it still is a possibility)

if you want to request a feature for the average user you should request a youtube app or something, non techies will love youtube capabilities on their ereader and the youtube app will not degrade the user experience one bit

and i apologize for my grammar but i really dont care about grammar because this is the internet and on the internet grammar doesnt matter

again to people who dont root, its an ereader NOT a tablet

compare the NC to the Nook or the kindle feature to feature and i can guarantee you that the nook color has the most features for the tech

it has alot of unnessary features for an ereader but it has them so it can be the best in its category(ereader)

if you look at some reviews of this device you will notice that they all say that this device is a great contender to an actual tablet
[Nook Color General] Trey_Miller:
Like I said, I'm not doing this for me, but for those that either don't know how, or don't want to take the risk. Yes, Flash is a battery-waster, a youtube apk would work good, etc etc. I'm not asking them to go out and re-invent the wheel, I'm just asking them to do what they said they would do. If all they do is make the UI a little less glitchy, update where you can load your own books and files onto the main screen, and toss a youtube app on there, I'll be proud as punch, happy as a pig in slop, take your pick at sayings.

As for your grammar luigi, I have no problem with it. I was merely calling him on his statement of "worst thing ever read".
[Nook Color General] Product F(RED):
The fact that I'm not a mind-reader. Also, the way you worded your original post implies that you haven't. You said you're not looking for a tablet, but rather a single-purpose device. But that's not the point. If you're not happy with it, sell it. Most people are. We like that it's open and can be turned into a cheap multi-purpose tablet. There's a fine line between showing dissatisfaction and insult. Typing up a grammatically correct email that insults the developers is not the way to go about it. I hope you realize that they still have your money, whether or not you decide to sell it. So you might as well make use of it.
[Nook Color General] luigi90210:
again i also agree that they should update their ui but not to really add features but to fix glitches and bugs(maybe add a youtube app but im running honeycomb so this doesnt affect me to much due to me already having youtube capabilities) and about the load your own books point

if they allowed a user to do that they will lose money

now i dont know if they are selling the nook at a negative or at a positive income but i do know that their intention is to sell B&N books to users using the nook color, and allowing people to side load books onto their device means that pirates can load free books on their nook and use the nook app to read a book B&N had no profit on(im not saying everyone is a pirate but this gives the people who are the freedom to do so) so from a business stand point that would be a bad idea

now i do understand why this would be a requested feature but even if you had kindle books you bought if you could side load them whats stopping you from just buying kindle books and using it on your nook instead of buying B&N books
[Nook Color General] hexapus:
I may have missed something, but I did go and re-read Alitmax98's reply to you, and didn't see anything mentioning your grasp of the English language. I believe he was referring to the content of your letter, not the grammar or formatting. That would be petty. On a related note, I didn't see anything grammatically wrong with his which would warrant your criticism either.

You seem overly sensitive. It's always nice when a company does what they say, but your letter does come across as if your Nook is an unusable paperweight with the potential to harm children. It's really not that bad.

I suggest you take a deep breath, download a nice book, and relax. If you really want to take someone to task, go buy a Samsung Moment from Sprint...then your rage will be justified.
[Nook Color General] Trey_Miller:
Hexapus, *chuckle* I appreciate your response. I fully admit that my email was rather prickly and hostile, hell I admit it in the first post. As to the english language, I purposefully 'misunderstood' it, as I have a low threshold for people who claim that an email is worse than some pieces of sellable "fiction" (Twilight, anyone?). The fact of the matter is, everyone and their neighbor is blowing words of adoration up B&N's collective arse for the reader, and anyone who complains is told to either suck it up or shove off. The entire purpose for the email was to get them to know that there was at least one voice out there that was saying, "Okay, I see what you have, but you promised all this other stuff, too. So what the hell is up?"

Is it unusable? To some extent, yes. I'm not talking about how it won't do my paperwork, feed me, and tuck me in (I suppose it *could* do all those, but whoever created the apk would have to be shot), I'm talking about how, every once in a while, I'd like to have a piece of technology that *doesn't* require me to have to rewrite the system just to make it work up to spec.

Luigi, you bring up a very good point about sideloaded pirated books. Although let me put this to you, if you're concerned that a person is going to sideload a book onto an open device that is easily rooted so that you can run the kindle apk along side the nook apk, not to mention half a dozen other things, and whatever else you might throw on there, your line of logic is just a little, mmm, off kilter.

But hey, whatevs. I'm going radio silent until I get a response either way. If anyone else wants to criticize me for speaking up, that's your perogative. Just as it's my perogative to call you an ignorant greedy arse for not thinking about those people who won't or can't root.
[Nook Color General] Fattychance:
Everyone has a right to their opinion but not everyone is right all the time.

The users that aren't ready to put Nookie on an SD card...need that dumbed down UI.

Even if when they open up an app store and move to honeycomb...they will probably keep the UI crippled.

They aren't telling lies and they made it nice for those of us with the skills to do something more with it. It's really such a rare thing to have happen.

I want the Nook held up as an example of openness that helps fuel creativity and progress.

Does the tab have Honeycomb yet? Gingerbread?
[Nook Color General] thecalip:
For starter, the NC is an eReader, and it is just functioning fine. Their app is amazing and work as expected.

What you did after rooting it is your problem, not NC. If you complaint that it doesn't work like a true tablet, then I have news for you. It is NOT.

If you need a tablet that function like it is a tablet out of the package, then go get a Xoom.
[Nook Color General] lekofraggle:
Trey,

Thanks for your post as it obviously got people thinking. The answers you seek are on the BN developer boards. I think they said June for the app store and software update. I know many non power users on Android and many of them hate it. The reason is, it does not function as well consistently as people expect it to. With the Nook, it does. This is important to many users and worth a wait in theirs and Barnes and Noble's mind. When the update comes, it will make the device smootther and give it more features. The froyo and Gingerbread ports here though wonderful, do not make it more stable. They have good devs, but I am not sure they are as good as the ones here. All this equates to more time for them to get it right. Our nagging will not speed up the process. You did buy a tablet from a company that makes books after all. If you want speedy updates, buy one from a computer company. Only, don't buy an Archos, they are notoriously slow with updates. On a lighter note, BN must have done something right. Look how much the interface of Honeycomb looks like the BN interface.
[Nook Color General] Atahachi:
Couldn't care less that B&N hasn't updated.
[Nook Color General] bassett:
I've taken the liberty of re-writing your letter...

Hi. My wife and I are Nook Color owners. Good e-reader with lots of untapped potential. When we were doing research before our purchase, we read that you would be regularly updating the Nook OS. This excited us because we wanted a device that would grow and receive some attention...not die on the vine.

I am curious if your are still committed to regular updates that will improve the Nook Color even more? I ask this, in part, because so many other Android devices are hitting the market. The lack up of meaningful updates to the Nook Color has been frustrating because of your prior stated commitment about regular updates. My eyes have begun to wander! Any insights you have would be greatly appreciated, as I hope to be a Nook Color owner for a long time.

~Trey Miller

(850) 555-5555

Avid student, reader, writer, and hopeful customer
[Nook Color General] Product F(RED):
THANK YOU. Much friendlier. Also, he originally stated that he wants an e-reader, not a tablet. So this revised letter makes more sense. The other was contradictory.
[Nook Color General] madfatter:
It isn't "free" time, it sounds more like your stealing time from your employer, but hey you clearly came here to troll, so....
[Nook Color General] cu_ninja:
After reading through this thread it became obvious to me that he posted this letter/rant on the wrong site. Anybody coming on XDA rooted within an hour of buying the NC and has moved on with their life.

As to the issue of an update, heck the sales gal at B&N didn't say a word about Froyo. All she told me was that it was rootable and you could load the market and other apps. That's all it took for me to purchase one right then and there.

B&N has a great model on their hands because they priced it perfectly. Just enough to make a profit but also cheap enough to make it a reasonable impulse purchase. They also gave themselves the leverage to delay updates forever, again because of that perfect price point.
[Nook Color General] Product F(RED):
I agree that B&N intentionally left it open for us to root and use as a tablet. It automatically doubles sales. And there's no loss because they get your money and you get a perfectly usable tablet. And the people that want an e-reader get a perfectly good e-reader. If OP wanted an e-reader, then he shouldn't be complaining about the interface if he doesn't like it. He should just go and buy a different e-reader.
[Nook Color General] joeld82:
I just want them to upgrade it to froyo so maybe I can have flash in the browser.
[Nook Color General] altimax98:
And so does everyone. But i persomally think BN sees it like this...

Froyo is a great OS, but look at the small issues that were having running froyo. Those little tiny issues that devs can ignore, well a money making business cant have those tiny faults no matter how small they are. They have to release a full bug free os with thier UI ontop. Why bug free??? Well think of a good 80% of people who hardly even know it runs android, and who dont know what the heck 2.2 is and just want a eReader with no problems.

Fact is that we are a minority in the Nook world. Im just so happy that devs have taken to the device and work with it.

To the OP: my first post in no way was directed at your grammer or words. I agree that a company needs to follow through with what they say will happen, but honestly in this world who really does that, and it doesnt seem like they are really taking a huge hit from not updating the OS. Most people wont even know a difference between the two, not to mention i hardly believe that they will release with youtube onboard, or even flash for that matter.

Sent from one of those missing Droids or Nook Color on HoneyComb
[Nook Color General] damthman:
I am a little confused. You said "Hi, I'm curious as to when or, rather, if there is going to be an update to the Nook Color OS before the end of 2011 Q1." but is it not yet the end of Q1? Also the 1.1.0 update was more for developers so that they could try out their applications on actual nook colors and not just the emulator. Therefore when their market is released there will be actual apps located in it. And I am also a little confused as to where B&N released a press statement stating that they would be releasing an update to the OS in Q1? I know that many of the tech blogs ie Engadget stated they would which was updated after B&N released a statement saying that this wasn't true. So is it true that your assumption is just based on rumors of supposed B&N employees writing in xda developers/talking to tech bloggers. I have spent the last hour looking for a press release that states what you are addressing as faults to B&N, but I can not honestly find anything that stated what you claimed B&N said, Press Releases Here. I also think you would've made your case stronger to the B&N people if you had submitted actual proof they they had promised which you claimed they did. Otherwise they might take you as a raving madman and just ignore your email.
[Nook Color General] RoboRay:
People that do things like this are why the rest of us can't get anyone at big companies to talk to us.
[Nook Color General] sprintguytexas:
Bad grammer, excess free time and untapped rage. Are you a postal worker?
[Nook Color General] cbpagent72:
I see where you are coming from and I agree. B&N should continue to support the Nook Color with the timely updates and enhancements they promised. Not to hard to understand really, they actually will make a profit by keeping current customers and turning them into future customers. Samsung was too slow on updating my EPIC and I will not buy another product from them. B&N should just look at the bad press Samsung received and take the opposite approach. I believe that electronics manufactures should support each one of their devices for atleast 2 years, just look at other manufactures the PS3 is still getting software updates to a 6 year old console.
[Nook Color General] greenmky:
I don't get it either. B&N did not promise a tablet. They promised a really good color e-reader. They delivered. IMO the only thing they need to do is add bluetooth for headphones to use with the web / music apps. They didn't even promise that, though.

All they promised was an update (like 2.2 or 2.3) and a store to come. That's it. And they didn't precisely say when, even.

Would I like an official 2.3 of some sort from B&N? Sure. I'm not foaming at the mouth for it. There will be a good build of 3.0 or 2.3 with BT eventually via XDA.

You should be glad that B&N isn't coming down hard on rooters and people with custom ROMS and such. They could be a LOT worse like some other companies.